The practice of companies asking for potential employee’s Facebook usernames and passwords has become increasingly mainstream in recent months, prompting a statement from Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan.

 

The statement, found here, reiterates Facebook’s commitment to their user’s privacy and their ongoing attempts to engage policymakers, initiate legal action and shut down applications that abuse their privileges.

 

Egan touches on unforeseen circumstances that could confront the employers when undertaking such a practice, including possible discrimination if an employee is dismissed based on information found on the social networking site. For example, if a potential employee is not hired based on questionable photographs, he/she could argue unfair dismissal based on his/her religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation, all of which is revealed when gaining access to a Facebook site.

 

Other problems arise when an employer is privy to private information and has no training to handle the repercussions and responsibility of this information I.e. information which suggests the commission of a crime.